SnitchSeeker.com - View Single Post - It's official: Mike Newell to direct GoF!

08-13-2003, 10:38 PM

Firstly - a moot point. How can we know if this is good news or bad when we haven't seen Alfonso's vision yet? We might watch Azkaban and decide Cuaron has done an Oscar worthy job!

Secondly - and I'm sorry to put a downer on the smiley faces....
BUT GOBLET IS ONLY GOING TO BE ONE FILM!
How could they be so stupid! They have just destroyed the last great franchise. Imagine 2005 - no LOTR, no more star wars, no Matrix to look forward to, the last great Bond film was licence to kill, and worst of all, a shredded and squashed version of a masterpiece in literature. JK's book cannot possibly be made as ONE two-and-a-half hour film - they would have more luck turning War and Peace as a 90 minute cartoon. And the it seems the world's favourite trio could be recast!

Just when Warner Bros. had stolen 20th Century Fox's crown, (The Alien series seeming doomed, Paramount surely won't dare make another Star Trek movie) they have thrown it all away. After leading us to believe being faithful to the books was their top priority (And let's face it - Order of the Phoenix IS unfilmable - one film or 3 are the options and the kids probably would be sick of it by 2007) they have ducked the biggest challenge - and potentialy the best movie. Goblet WOULD work a la the matrix in summer and november - but Harry has been let down tonight - Warner have failed HIM above everyone else. Ask most grown-up fans and surely they would agree Harry does not become a serious drama until Book 4 - (There are signs in Azkaban of course) - and now that will never be seen. Goblet the movie will have the tasks come so quickly it will seem like the Olympics - just one race then another, and the Yule ball will just be regarded as trivial.

I suppose it is easy to be arrogant and think we know it all - but if two Goblet movies was too many they could fix it by cutting book 5 down. It is not an easy task to adapt a Potter novel - everyone wants to see it their own way. I firmly believe that the first two movies might not be the greatest masterclasses in filmmaking since Citizen Kane, or even American Beauty. But they were faithful to the stories which is what we want to see. Alienate the die-hards and they won't watch movie 4 or 5. Then, even if Order of the Phoenix is brought to screen properly, even if by Columbus, it won't matter. Goblet will go down as the movie that wasn't what we asked for. Harry will go down on film as a Disney-esque children's fantasy - and his real depths of books four and five will never be explored by competent actors. How Warner's think they can just find another Dan The Man Radcliffe just like that is naiviety verging on the criminal. Have they forgotten how hard it was to find him in the first place? It took even him one film to get into it. As the years roll by it will look like the Planet of the Apes film series did. (Beneath & Escape etc served no purpose except lining someone's pocket as there was no story worth telling. If you don't believe me, go and watch T3). That is not a critism of JKR of course, just of how her story will be lost, like beer down the drain. Harry has been a massive success all over the world because he is a credible and believable hero - with a great supporting cast of characters that is refreshed and added to at every episode. Every year his world seems closer to ours. And that is book fives greatest strength - we can see conflict on the news between the powers that be, about the right way to survive in the way we live now - and that ironic dimension may never see the light of day.

And let's face it - isn't that what all this escapism is about?

08-13-2003, 10:38 PM	#19 (permalink)
Guest_MOODY Guest Posts: n/a	Firstly - a moot point. How can we know if this is good news or bad when we haven't seen Alfonso's vision yet? We might watch Azkaban and decide Cuaron has done an Oscar worthy job! Secondly - and I'm sorry to put a downer on the smiley faces.... BUT GOBLET IS ONLY GOING TO BE ONE FILM! How could they be so stupid! They have just destroyed the last great franchise. Imagine 2005 - no LOTR, no more star wars, no Matrix to look forward to, the last great Bond film was licence to kill, and worst of all, a shredded and squashed version of a masterpiece in literature. JK's book cannot possibly be made as ONE two-and-a-half hour film - they would have more luck turning War and Peace as a 90 minute cartoon. And the it seems the world's favourite trio could be recast! Just when Warner Bros. had stolen 20th Century Fox's crown, (The Alien series seeming doomed, Paramount surely won't dare make another Star Trek movie) they have thrown it all away. After leading us to believe being faithful to the books was their top priority (And let's face it - Order of the Phoenix IS unfilmable - one film or 3 are the options and the kids probably would be sick of it by 2007) they have ducked the biggest challenge - and potentialy the best movie. Goblet WOULD work a la the matrix in summer and november - but Harry has been let down tonight - Warner have failed HIM above everyone else. Ask most grown-up fans and surely they would agree Harry does not become a serious drama until Book 4 - (There are signs in Azkaban of course) - and now that will never be seen. Goblet the movie will have the tasks come so quickly it will seem like the Olympics - just one race then another, and the Yule ball will just be regarded as trivial. I suppose it is easy to be arrogant and think we know it all - but if two Goblet movies was too many they could fix it by cutting book 5 down. It is not an easy task to adapt a Potter novel - everyone wants to see it their own way. I firmly believe that the first two movies might not be the greatest masterclasses in filmmaking since Citizen Kane, or even American Beauty. But they were faithful to the stories which is what we want to see. Alienate the die-hards and they won't watch movie 4 or 5. Then, even if Order of the Phoenix is brought to screen properly, even if by Columbus, it won't matter. Goblet will go down as the movie that wasn't what we asked for. Harry will go down on film as a Disney-esque children's fantasy - and his real depths of books four and five will never be explored by competent actors. How Warner's think they can just find another Dan The Man Radcliffe just like that is naiviety verging on the criminal. Have they forgotten how hard it was to find him in the first place? It took even him one film to get into it. As the years roll by it will look like the Planet of the Apes film series did. (Beneath & Escape etc served no purpose except lining someone's pocket as there was no story worth telling. If you don't believe me, go and watch T3). That is not a critism of JKR of course, just of how her story will be lost, like beer down the drain. Harry has been a massive success all over the world because he is a credible and believable hero - with a great supporting cast of characters that is refreshed and added to at every episode. Every year his world seems closer to ours. And that is book fives greatest strength - we can see conflict on the news between the powers that be, about the right way to survive in the way we live now - and that ironic dimension may never see the light of day. And let's face it - isn't that what all this escapism is about?